Discourse over whether the WNBA should permit trans women from entering the league has reached an all-time high. Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White threatening to enter the 2027 WNBA Draft has kicked decision-making into overdrive for league officials.
Clay Travis believes that the W won’t implement certain genetic screening because players currently in the league won’t pass it.
Clay Travis Doesn’t Think Current Players in the W Would Pass Certain Genetic Parameters
Travis took to Fox News to speak on this highly sensitive topic. He questioned Cathy Engelbert and league officials about why they haven’t taken inspiration from other women’s sports leagues around the world for their trans-eligibility policies.
“Why won’t [the] WNBA adopt the same gender standards as the WTA, the NCAA and the Olympics and require only women in their league? I think it’s because they know some of their players won’t qualify as women,” wrote Travis on X over a video of him expressing a similar sentiment.
Linda Cohn had a similar problem with the WNBA, as they’ve not expressed a desire to follow any tenets set by leagues like the WTA or the UCI.
Granted, those leagues have barred any individual who has undergone male puberty or is even assigned male at birth from participating in their women’s sporting events.
“Here’s where I think Enes Kanter Freedom and Royce White have checkmated the WNBA. They can’t define what a woman is,” continued Travis.
His hypothesis regarding this was split into a couple of factors:
“One, because they have a large trans fanbase in their mind. They don’t want to admit there’s a difference biologically. Two, I think there are women that would not pass the Women’s Tennis Association standard for women.”
The last part of that statement from Travis could be deemed fairly problematic and offensive to the LGBTQIA+ community.
Enhanced musculature doesn’t mean that individuals who were assigned female at birth wouldn’t pass the league’s genetic screening tests.
It is, at the end of the day, up to the WNBA to put forth its own tenets on eligibility and to deal with the backlash it’ll face for any decision it makes.
Commissioner Engelbert and the WNBA released a statement earlier this month that stated, “There are no immediate eligibility matters affecting the WNBA, and we strongly denounce the bad-faith efforts to use these topics to demean or marginalize others.”
This hints toward the W leaning heavily into allowing trans women to participate in the sport. Pioneering something as magnanimous as this would certainly set a precedent that future women’s leagues would perhaps end up following.
This article originally appeared on Pro Football Network.